Still Here, Still Raining

How's the weather where you are?  We're experiencing a little rain here.  I think there have been two sunny hours since Saturday -- one on Wednesday and one on Thursday.  I keep finding this:

 

I think I've emptied the seedling trays 4 times in the past 30 hours.  My rain gauge says 3 inches, but I'm not sure that we haven't had more rain than that.  What's a gardener to do?  Well this gardener keeps ending up with wet, dirty feet:

 

But I've also been catching up with things like housecleaning, seeing friends, and work.  On Monday after a long work day I ran over to my friend Mary's house.  She had put out a Facebook plea for empty 4" nursery containers.  Mary puts out dahlias in little pots in front of her house each spring and asks people to leave $2 in a jar.  I think she makes enough to pay for her annuals each year.  So I threw 20 or so empty pots in a bag, grabbed my garden gloves and handy Felcos and headed east.  See Mary has glorious lilacs along her driveway and since they're at peak or slightly past, I knew she would let me cut some to bring home.  Only gardeners come home from someone else's garden with more than they brought:

 

Mary couldn't resist sending me home with a bunch of dahlias.  If it ever stops raining I'll even plant them:

 

And how beautiful the lilacs were.  They're somewhat past their peak now 3 days after this photo was snapped, but they still smell divine: 

 

I stopped at Walmart on the way home from Mary's house for some contact lens solution.  Guess what I came home with -- yup, more plants:

 

I got lazy and decided that two $9 hanging containers of impatiens were worth not having to find and buy new liners for the hanging baskets on the shady side of the house:

 

They don't show up well against the fading marsh marigolds, but once that's all bare dirt I think the lighter containers will look pretty good:

 

But this rainy weather is giving all the transplants time to get good and established, like this creeping jenny in the fish container: 

 

And all the seeds are developing nicely like this kale in one of the raised beds:

The potatoes need to be hilled already.  All of the potatoes in all of the containers: 

 

And the grass is coming back slowly, but surely.  I love this shot from high on the hill in back of our garden.  I wish you could see my neighbor's funky garden.  Maybe I'll take you on a photo tour some day: 

 

I might be able to get out to the garden on Friday and get some stuff done like hilling the potatoes.  There's only a 60% chance of rain.  That's practically a clear day after what we've been experiencing.  If you're reading from the Northeast, are you managing to maintain your sanity?

Comments

[Melissa (irishgardenlady)]

Barely keeping my sanity up here in NY....Moving plants in and out of the house according to the rain has been interesting. Add the pesky mosquitoes and I am itching to get out into the garden (pun intended)

[Mummer]

!Cute toes! Oh, you are so lucky to have 'free water from the sky'. It's bone-dry here in Southwest Florida - the only plant flourishing is my bougainvillea - and I dread to see our water bill..

[Cara Mirabella]

I feel your pain! We should have planted everything this week, but the rain just...won't...stop!
Here in North NJ, my rain gauge says only 2 inches - but an empty bucket I left out has at least 5!

[Wendy]

Heather, a little more rain tomorrow morning and then it's over. This afternoon was gorgeous, wasn't it?

[Heather's Garden]

Melissa -- Oh the mosquitoes, they're the worst right after a week of rain. I'm almost tempted to spray, but not really.

Mom -- Thank you, I like my toes, even if you say they're my father's. Luckily our landlord pays the water bill even when it's not raining.

Cara Mirabella -- I'm so happy I got the tomatoes and peppers in before the rain. I only lost one pepper, which may or may not have been due to the rain. I'm thinking I may have broken the stem when I transplanted it. 5 inches sounds about right!

Wendy -- Tomorrow afternoon is what I heard here, but either way I got a ton done today and had a lovely evening out with girlfriends which involved sitting outside for about 30 minutes -- without rain!

[Layanee]

Please turn off the faucet. Here too but gardening large is easier when it is cloudy. I am almost done though so that should mean sunshine. Love the new planting by the house.

[roxanne shea]

Hi ! long time lurker here, I also live So.Ct.The rain was so good that the weeded areas now have new weeds, LOL. But it also makes it easier to pull them. Planting is way behind, but will catch up this weekend. I grow mostly veggies and fruit. Best wishes Roxy

[Heather's Garden]

Layanee -- I agree the gardening is much easier when it's cloudy, but not so much when it rains every blessed moment!

Roxy -- Thanks for de-lurking, it's always nice to know who's reading. We have a bumper crop of weeds too, but as you said, they're very easy to pull from the saturated ground.

[Kerry]

We too in Queensland Aust. have had so much rain, but this week have been out in the garden going crazy...but they predict more rain this weekend.